A nice ally for Israel....

A visiting African-American pastor had an interesting message for Israeli lawmakers:

Pastor Glenn Plummer, 50, former Chairman of the prestigious National Religious Broadcasters Association told those gathered in the Knesset lecture hall that the potential for support for Israel from black Americans is huge. Plummer claimed that more than 80 percent of 33 million African Americans are “Bible-oriented Christians.” According to Plummer, a recent survey asking respondents if they had read the Bible in the past week indicated that 62 percent of African Americans polled responded in the affirmative. By contrast, only 31 percent of white Americans did.

“And the Bible their preachers are preaching from is largely the Old Testament,” Plummer continued. “It’s hard to outdo a black preacher when he talks Old Testament…” the charismatic Detroit pastor added with a chuckle. “As a biblical American, I find myself connected to Israel,” Plummer said.

Plummer, making his third visit to Israel in recent years, asserts that Jews need to remind African Americans that they stood together on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. “I know it was Jews who were lynched and jailed as they stood by black Americans,” Plummer went on. “It was Jews who helped establish the NAACP.” He implored those present, including a group of 25 friends and congregants from Detroit, the heads of Christian organizations working in Israel, as well as the Knesset members, not to forget “that we’ve been friends for decades.”

“You need to get in our face and remind us that we stood together in the 60s. Say ‘we need friends now,’ and you’ll be met with the open arm of embrace from black Americans,” Plummer promised, as the members of his delegation murmured their agreement.